NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski addressed several topics on a recent NBC Sports podcast, including the importance of the Drivers Council, his reaction to the Sprint All-Star race and his thoughts on the "code of journalism" in motorsports. He said there is no formal mission statement for the Drivers Council, but if he would create one, it would include doing things for the sport "that probably won’t help it in our time in it as drivers." Keselowski: "That’s so hard to do because we get caught up, I think, thinking small-term of what can we do to be better tomorrow, and that is important. But the big stuff is where are we going to be in 10 years? The Council gives us the format to have these really big conversations to find solutions, and it’s my belief that the solution is not going to come from one person. ... It’s going to come from a collective group, and having these councils and these formats is how we are going to get that collective group to come up with that answer.” He said making things too collaborative between drivers at times "can be an awful thing." However, he added, "The gains made here would, by far, supplement any potential loss by having collaborative drivers.” Keselowski said of the meetings, “There are always going to be a handful of contentious moments, no matter what or who is involved. But I think for the most part, they are really well organized. There is a good team that is kind of leading the ship on that, and they are very thought-provoking. … Sometimes there’s a lot of swallow-your-pride moments where you realize, ‘You know what, I don’t have the best idea here.’”
TAKING THE HEAT: Keselowski had a role in devising the format for the Sprint All-Star Race last month that was much maligned. He said, "There were a lot of pieces to that, and I had some of the ideas for it but not all of the ideas for it. There were some things that I thought went really well and there were some things that I would admit didn’t go really well. In general, I feel like it was a success, even though there is probably a lot of people listening that don’t." Keselowski added, “I felt like there were a number of people who did not embrace the format, and they ran like they didn’t embrace the format, and … I can’t understand it” ("NASCAR on NBC Podcast," NBCSPORTS.com, 6/8).
SPEAKING YOUR MIND: He also returned to his criticism of Fox' Jeff Gordon for comments made during Monday's Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 at Pocono Raceway. He said, "What we are seeing is different standards, arguably much lower standards, of what is acceptable in journalism. ... I have some strong beliefs of what I think the code of journalism should be in motorsports. I don’t think they are necessarily popular beliefs and most times, I try to keep them to myself because it is not productive, but the setting of this week changed how I felt about it because I felt like it was a direct attack on myself and my team." He did acknowledge he was a "little more vocal than what I would have liked to have been" (“NASCAR on NBC Podcast,” NBCSPORTS.com, 6/8). Sirius XM Radio’s Dave Moody said, “We have a fan base that swears to us every week that they want their drivers to be outspoken, to say what they think, to not worry about being politically correct or worry about getting fined, or sometimes even worry about being right. Brad Keselowski says what’s on his mind, and if you walk up to him after the race and say, ‘Hey, Jeff Gordon was down on your guys today,’ he’s going to defend his fellas. I don’t have a single problem with that. I don’t agree with him on this one, though” ("NASCAR Race Hub," FS1, 6/7).
